Content area
Full Text
A tour of Sprint PCS wireless Web service finds useful mobile content and e-mail access with a few shortcomings.
Web phones can be a wealth of mobile information, but you'll still deal with some frustration when dialing for data on a device designed for voice.
("http://http://s2.sprintpcs.com/wireless/index.html" TARGET = "_blank") Sprint PCS is one the first major carriers with a wireless Internet service; its Wireless Web debuted last September.
Since then, as many other carriers have launched services, Sprint has busily added new services and content. Among its partners are shopping sites ("http://http://www.Amazon.com" TARGET = "_blank") Amazon.com and ("http://http://www.barnesandnoble.com" TARGET = "_blank") Barnes & Noble and the online auction site ("http://http:// www.ebay.com" TARGET = "_blank") EBay Sprint customers can check their portfolios on ("http://http://www.fidelity.com" TARGET = "_blank") Fidelity Investments. And they can get mobile entertainment on the likes of ("http://http://www.foxsports.com" TARGET = "_blank") FoxSports.com and ("http://http:// www.hollywood.com" TARGET = "_blank") Hollywood.com. Soon, even ("http://http://www.aol.com" TARGET = "_blank") AOL will be on the menu.
It's high time to look at what Sprint PCS has to offer today. But, as with some other fledgling wireless mobile offerings, while the content is there, coverage barriers and navigational pains still make the service less than easy to use.
Size for Surfing
To surf the Sprint PCS Wireless Web, you first need a Sprint voice plan and one of the ten available phones that support Sprint's Web services (five more designs have been announced). You'll want to consider the display size when choosing a phone you'll use for data.
At $299.99, the Sprint PCS NP1000 single-band smart phone I tried is hardly a steal, but it offers personal digital assistant features such as a calendar, an address book,...